Mark Twain travels through Bolognia, Pistoia, and into Florence. Because of the fatigue from the journey as well as the distain he feels for Florence's treatment of Galileo and Dante, he does not speak highly of Florence. Apparently, some years in the future he does change his mind about the place as he chooses to live there for some time, at least circa 1902. He writes of the mosaics and the maltreatment received by the artists, or "pensioners". He then travels to Pisa and climbs the Leaning Tower. Twain writes of the "old original patriarchal Pendulum--the Abraham Pendulum of the world".

In this chapter we learn more about Venice, it's gondolas and it's art, "The Old Masters" and that of the Renaissance. Twain weighs in as an art critique. One area of particular interest to me is his revisiting the characteristics of what might be called the "Ugly American". "It is not pleasant to see an American thrusting his nationality forward obtrusively in a foreign land, but Oh, it is pitiable to see him making of himself a thing that is neither male nor female, neither fish, flesh, nor fowl--a poor, miserable, hermaphrodite Frenchman!"

Much like chapter 11, where we visit the dungeons of France, here we visit the chambers of the Council of Three and the Bridge of Sighs. Twain is not timid about demonstrating man's inhumanity to man. Again Mark Twain is disappointed to learn his preconceived ideas of Venice are not realized. Nighttime, however, returns some of the glamour he expected.

Twain travels from Lake Como to Venice. Along the way he hears the Legend of Count Luigi and his evil brother Leonardo. This is a live recording converted into a slide show with the open source program Imagination.

Twain travels from Milan to Lake Como. He stays in the small town of Bellagio, once the site of a Roman resort. He waxes poetic over the differences between Lake Tahoe and Lake Como but his bigotry in regards to Native Americans spoils the show. Included on this page is a copy of Letter 8 of Twain's offerings to the Daily Alta California, dated September 22, 1867. It was written in July of 1867. Most of the letter applies to this chapter but the paragraphs on The Last Supper were used in chapter 19.

An exploration of the art in Milan, Di Vinci, Michelangelo, etc. We also get a peek at Lucretia Borgia and Petrarch's Laura. The chapter contains Twain's reflections on Di Vinci's The Last Supper and comments on how the image is described by viewers. How is it possible to perceive the many nuances said to be found in the painting when it is in such a degraded condition.

The Last Supper was described by Twain in Letter number 8 to The Daily Alta California. This is only a small portion of the letter. I expect to include a copy of the letter with the Chapter 20 material.

This is a slideshow created with Imagination. The images are all from the Gutenberg Project edition with corresponds with the Oxford Mark Twain. Imagination allows the use of empty slides between images. I'm utilizing them here rather than filling the spaces with various Twain portraits.

Twain is enraptured by the Cathedral of Milan. This is another slideshow produced with Imagination. I have not solved the color problem yet and I hope to spend more time playing with the transitions between slides in future shows.